Operation Castle Storm

Operation Castle Storm (15-16 May 2006) was a US Marine Corps operation executed in May 2006 during the Iraq War. Ba'athist militants took over a Crusades-era castle in Iraq that had been used by Saddam Hussein as a depot for his military and armor, and the United States' soldiers succeeded in storming the castle in a bloody operation.

Prelude
The castle in question was built during the Crusades era by Saladin, and it was around for over 800 years. The castle was converted into an arms depot by Saddam Hussein and Ba'athist Iraq, with Iraqi armored vehicles being stationed there. In 2003, many of them were abandoned as the Americans pushed on the capital city of Baghdad, and the castle was left abandoned. In 2006, Iraqi insurgents took over the castle during their insurgency against the Americans, and the US Marine Corps set out to recapture the castle from the insurgents.

Operation
On 15 May 2006, US Marine Corps soldiers arrived in Humvees and troop transports, driving down a road and disembarking before they reached the train yards near the castle. The insurgents stalled the American attack at the train yards before being forced to pull back by the fierce marines, who pushed the insurgents out of the yards. Some Americans took up positions in a building above the train yard identified as "Objective B", shooting down on Iraqi insurgents at a ground-level building on the other side of the train yards identified as "Objective C". American soldiers went prone due to coming under heavy fire from the house, and the American snipers in the train yard control building shot at the insurgents from above while also shooting at insurgents in a destroyed building on the side of a hill to the left of the train yards. When Objective C was secured after some heavy fighting, the Americans moved towards the final objective, the castle itself. The Americans took heavy losses here, with American grenadiers using M203 grenade launcher-augmented M4 carbines to fight against the Iraqi insurgents. The insurgents threw grenades and fired upon the American soldiers, and both sides took heavy losses until American soldiers were able to storm the inside of the building. The Americans were victorious over the insurgents, and the building was successfully seized from the insurgents.